Ethereum Classic is the original protocol of Ethereum. As a result of the massive hack on the Ethereum-based DAO, in which around 14% of all ETH in circulation were stolen, a hard fork was proposed to return the stolen funds to their owners. This caused an ideological split revolving around the question of changing previous transactions in the blockchain. Some Ethereum holders rejected the hard fork, and decided to keep using the original protocol, based on the principle that the blockchain is immutable, and cannot be changed.

PRIZM is an open-source cryptocurrency based on the NEXT core. The PRIZM architecture is built in JAVA. It has a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism that varies slightly from other PoS algorithms. It is designed to be more resistant to attacks against the network. PRIZM has developed the concept of paramining, which helps the network achieve consensus and encourages community participation.

Decred (DCR) is a decentralized currency with an emphasis on community based governance. Decred is led by several early adopters of Bitcoin and is designed to implement many of the goals of early Bitcoin idealists. Decred is highly focused on community contribution and governance. Users that contribute to the community can receive compensation for their work and anybody can submit a proposal ti make an improvement to the platform.
Decred has a hybrid Proof-of-Activity (PAC) consensus algorithm that combines the mining of Proof-of-Work (PoW) with the stake verifying model of Proof-of-Stake (PoS). It's designed to incentivize the community to participate and to reward both miners and stake verifiers. When DCR is mined, PoW miners receives 60% of the coins, PoS voters receive 30%, and 10% goes towards the development of the Decred platform.

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